Filipino Champ Wins ShowDown’s Inaugural Rising Thunder Tournament

It’s hard to argue that Ryan “Filipino Champ” Ramirez of Panda Gaming isn’t one of the world’s strongest fighting game players. Thanks to his impressive showings in games like Street Fighter, Marvel, and Killer Instinct and tournament results that culminated in a first-place finish at Evo 2012, he’s proven that he has what it takes to be considered among our community’s greatest competitors.

With all that already under his belt, Ramirez has set his sights on another game: Rising Thunder.

Developed by Radiant Entertainment, the indie video game studio helmed by Evo co-founders Tom and Tony Cannon, Rising Thunder is a unique fighter that combines robotic battles and intuitive gameplay to make an exciting title that everyone can hop into and play, regardless of skill level. The folks at ShowDown recently partnered with Radiant to put on the world’s very first Rising Thunder tournament in San Francisco, California.

By the end of the night, Ramirez had only Minato standing in the way of total victory, and used the zoning and movement options available to chosen character Chel to close out the grand finals and install himself as champion. If you missed out on watching this event live, we’ve included the last match below.

Be sure to pay close attention to Seth Killian’s commentary, as he is one of the key creative minds behind this title and obviously knows quite about its emerging strategies.

The full tournament playlist can be found here for those of you itching for more Rising Thunder action.